The old adage is that any publicity is good publicity.
If that’s the case, then the Estevan Bruins have received lots of good publicity in the past couple of days, thanks to the reaction to their new road jerseys, which were revealed during the club’s season opener at the Weyburn Red Wings on Friday night.
Fans took to social media during and after the game, with most ripping into the road duds. At issue were two problems: the overabundance of white, and the white and yellow colour scheme for the numbers and the name bar, which were hard to distinguish. It wasn't just me (with my eyesight) who had a hard time identifying players.
These jerseys seem to be the most loathed makeover in the province since the Saskatchewan Roughriders altered the appearance of beloved mascot Gainer the Gopher earlier this summer.
You had the comments you would expect to see on Facebook and Twitter. One post I saw said these uniforms would be KKK-approved because of the amount of white. Some foolishly said these were the ugliest jerseys they had ever seen.
I've seen far worse. Frankly, these aren’t even the ugliest jerseys I’ve seen the Bruins wear. If you were around in 2001-02, you’ll remember the hideous “Bear Mouth” third jerseys that the club used a few times. (If anyone reading this column can post a photo of that Bear Mouth jersey, please do).
Most Bruin jerseys look great. It’s a hard look to screw up when you can use the classic spoked “B” logo and the black and gold colour scheme employed by the Boston Bruins. But these uniforms are not great.
When TSN broadcasting legend Bob McKenzie takes aim at your fashion faux pas on Twitter, you know something went wrong.
The Bruins typically do very well when it comes to their uniforms, their marketing and their overall image, both on the ice and off the ice.
The good news is these are issues that should be fairly easy to rectify.
The numbers and the name bar should be fixed by simply changing the name bar to black letters and adding a black outline to the numbers. It’s one thing to annoy reporters and play-by-play announcers. But when fans and scouts are agitated, that’s a bigger problem.
The Bruins have a two-game road trip on the upcoming weekend, and then they’ll be joined by the rest of the league for the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s annual showcase on Sept. 23 and 24. It’s imperative that they have the name bar and number issues resolved by then.
You don’t want to have the scouts scratching their heads, trying to determine who the players are. You want to make their jobs as simple as possible.
The other issue is the prevalence of white. White jerseys. White gloves. White shorts. White socks. Splashes of yellow incorporated into each. The combination of white pants and white socks created a look that was reminiscent of Cooperalls hockey pants from the 1970s and 1980s.
The only thing they didn’t have were white skates, which didn’t work for the California Golden Seals when they were a laughing stock in the NHL in the 1960s and 1970s.
It might be too late to make significant alterations to the jerseys, but at the very least, having black pants and black gloves would go a long ways to easing the ocular strain created by the road outfits
Thankfully, these were the away jerseys. If the Bruins would have come out with a look like that for their home games, you might have had fans asking for a refund on their season tickets.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders were smart. They made minor alterations to the new look for Gainer the Gopher to appease their fans. When was the last time you heard anyone complain about Gainer’s new look?
The Bruins would be wise to do the same. Make the names and numbers easier to see. Ease up on the amount of white. For the sake of the fans, scouts and media.
Unlike the bear mouth jerseys of 2001-02, at least you can do something to improve this look.
Hopefully this will be the biggest source of on-ice frustration for the Bruins and their fans this season. If it is, then this should be a pretty good year.
